Rob Key, the managing director of men’s cricket at the ECB, has suggested that there should be a window in the international calendar designated solely for Test cricket following widespread concern over the future of the format in recent weeks.
As franchise-based Twenty20 leagues keep creeping into the cricket calendar, cricketers have begun to move away from Test cricket.
Trent Boult declined a New Zealand central contract in 2022. Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers’ unavailability for West Indies saw them name seven uncapped cricketers for their two Test matches in Australia.
South Africa named seven uncapped players for their two Test matches in New Zealand as well, including captain Neil Brand, to avoid a clash with the SA20, their own Twenty20 league. They then added an eighth.
Of the 12 ICC Full Members, only nine play in the World Test Championship. And of them, England, Australia, and India play far more among each other than with the other teams.
Several former players have expressed their concerns over the matter. Steve Waugh called the South African selection as “a defining moment in the death of Test cricket”.
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Speaking to the BBC’s Tailenders podcast, ECB managing director Robert Key recommended preventive steps. “Test cricket needs to have windows,” said Key. “There was a two-month window for the Ashes last summer – that could be one. There could be one at Christmas.
“There are all of these franchise competitions, like the IPL, and there is a global white-ball competition every year. Test cricket needs a window where you can’t play anything else.”
Key also suggested that the three most financially equipped boards, along with the ICC, can support the other boards in this regard: “The rest of us – England, Australia, India and the International Cricket Council in particular – need to look after the other countries.”
Key also spoke on how first-class experience may not be as relevant as perceived for Test cricket selection. “We have to stop being snobby about Test cricket. We have this view that you can’t play Test cricket unless you have played 150 red-ball games, or play in a certain way. No, just pick the most talented players.”
He was also optimistic about Jofra Archer’s return for the T20 World Cup later this year. Injuries have plagued the prodigious Archer’s brief international career, restricting him to a handful of matches in 2023.
“Our plan is the T20 World Cup, building him up slowly,” assured Key, though he prefers caution. “I saw him bowl in the Caribbean [Archer was in the West Indies with the England squad in December 2023] and it was like he’d never been away. I don’t want to get back to this thing where he plays and then goes down again.”
